Government representatives are willing to consider concerns facing Australia’s financial planners if they offer a broader focus on the financial services sector rather than on specific industry reviews, an advice chief has said.
Earlier this month, the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) met with Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law Chris Bowen, Shadow Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law Chris Pearce, members of Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey’s office, senior members of Treasury and members of the Ripoll inquiry committee.
“We got a very fair hearing and obviously when you look at Ripoll, Cooper and Henry it’s fair to say in a sense they all deal with the area of financial services,” AFA chief executive Richard Klipin said.
“I think the message we took away is that as an association we need to understand that they are looking at those three inquiries to bring change to the system rather than seeing them as isolated, separate inquiries.
“So therefore our messages need to be clear and tailored in a broader sense rather than in a very specific Ripoll only, or Cooper only or Henry only review.”
The meeting enabled the AFA to place its view on the role of advice and financial advisers on the government agenda, Klipin said.
“I think part of the engagement of government and treasury with the industry is that they are very open and very encouraging of professional organisations coming and telling them the way it is for their members at the coalface,” he said.
“From the AFA’s point of view it was constructive to bring the combined views or the aggregated views of our membership to Canberra.”
The AFA announced earlier this month the hiring of former political leader Kerry Chikarovski as a lobbyist to spearhead its political initiatives.
